Get ready! From the costumes to the crazies to the costumed crazies, Halloween in New Orleans is a scene beyond comparison. Since 1999, the Voodoo Experience, or Voodoo Fest for short, has established itself as the epicenter of the madness and the mayhem. Now in its 12th year, the festival brings the mystique of the Crescent City to the brink of mass hysteria, cramming music’s megastars and misfits together with the best and most bizarre bands in the Big Easy. Starting Friday, October 29th, and continuing through Sunday, October 31st, the grounds of City Park are transformed into an epic Halloween-weekend blowout.
New Orleans Bingo! Show - not to be missed
Even for the most experienced music festival vets, navigating this six-stage extravaganza is no simple feat. The festival’s two main stages, the Voodoo Stage and the Sony Stage, are grouped together in an area called Le Ritual. Here’s where you’ll catch the weekend’s headliners. Outside of Le Ritual is an area referred to as Le Flambeau, which encompasses the SoCo Stage and the Preservation Hall Tent and features local acts. Curated by the one-and-only New Orleans Bingo! Show, the Bingo! Parlor, Voodoo Fest’s most unique, shocking, and exhilarating area is where you’ll find a combination of local and national acts commiserating amidst a wild, circus-like atmosphere. Trust me, while you might not be familiar with the bands playing in the Bingo! Parlor, you’ll want to find yourself here as often as possible. Back for the first time since 2004 is the electronica / dance tent. Dubbed Le Plur, this is where the party gets really weird – don’t be alarmed… But don’t forget to bring your costume as you dance your way across a sea of zombies, vampires, and hellish creatures of all sorts.
Among this year’s headliners are pop-prog behemoths Muse, the crown prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne, and alt-rock icons Weezer. Spread across the weekend are over 100 other acts ranging from hipster heroes MGMT to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers John Paul Jones and Chrissie Hynde to electro-house overlord Deadmau5. To help you sort through the rest of the spectacle, here are our top picks for the weekend:
A jam-packed show at last year's Voodoo Fest
Le Ritual
Voodoo Stage
Muse (9:00, Fri), Dead Confederate ( 4:30, Fri), Ozzy Osbourne (9:00, Sat), Big Rock Candy Mountain (11:00am, Sat), My Morning Jacket (7:00, Sun), Interpol (4:15 Sun)
Sony Stage
Weezer (7:45, Fri), Eli “Paperboy” Reed (3:30, Fri), Street Sweeper Social Club (8:00, Sat), The Whigs (4:00, Sat), MGMT (5:30, Sun), Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights (11:15, Sun)
Le Flambeau
SoCo Stage
Big Sam’s Funky Nation (3:15, Fri), Feufollet (1:30, Fri), Basin Street Records Revue (5:00, Sat), Alvin Youngblood Hart (2:00, Sat), Trombone Shorty (7:30, Sun), Walter “Wolfman” Washington (12:45, Sun)
Preservation Hall Tent
Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm (7:45, Fri), Stanton Moore Trio (2:15, Fri), Theresa Andersson (5:45, Sat), Lost Bayou Ramblers (12:45, Sat), Brian Coogan and Mike Dillon (7:00, Sun), Toubab Krewe (5:15, Sun)
Bingo! Parlor
Rotary Downs (6:15, Fri), March Forth Marching Band (1:45, Fri), Eagles of Death Metal (9:30, Sat), Helen Gillet (2:00, Sat), New Orleans Bingo! Show (7:30, Sun), Chrissie Hynde and John Paul Jones (5:45, Sun)
Le Plur Dance Tent
Hot Chip (7:45, Fri), Beverly Skillz (11:45, Fri), Crystal Method (7:30, Sat), Boys Noize (3:30, Sat), Deadmau5 (6:15, Sun), Ferry Corsten (2:45, Sun)
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